Tofo Tofo

So about those pantsula references in Beyonce’s latest video: Beyonce and her choreographer, Frank Gatson Jr, had seen a Mozambican group, Tofo Tofo, on Youtube. This is Gatson talking to MTV about Tofo Tofo, above in someone’s wedding video:

We prepared a lot for it. We had seen something on YouTube; we had seen these three guys from Africa, this Mozambique African dance troupe … we were like, ‘Wow, this is an amazing movement,’ ” B’s longtime choreographer, Frank Gatson Jr., told us about the Francis Lawrence-directed video. “And that movement has always been in the back of our head for the last year. From there, we talked about a lot of concepts … I feel like we really nailed it and, again, my hats off to the Tofo Tofo guys [from Africa], ’cause none of us could imitate that,” he said. “We had to bring them around to learn that [move], which is really, really interesting. They had such a great vocabulary of movement.” Those two dancers not only helped shape the moves in the video, but also moved Beyoncé. “That was probably one of the most beautiful experiences for Beyoncé. They were so humbled,” he said. “It was hard finding them. They were really in a remote area; we had to get the embassy people involved. That was a process that took about two months or more. Beyoncé really loved them and I’m pretty sure we’ll see them again. It was magical.”

Oh, meanwhile in Georgia, featured in the “Run the World (Girls)” video (about the 1:49 mark and then again at 1:55)